Jean Sylvain Bailly

Jean Sylvain Bailly (15 September 1736-12 November 1793) was the Mayor of Paris from 1789 to 1791 during the French Revolution. He was guillotined during the Reign of Terror due to his role in the Champ de Mars massacre.

Biography
Jean Sylvain Bailly was born in Paris, France on 15 September 1736, the son of the supervisor of the Louvre. He became a celebrated astronomer in the years preceding the French Revolution, and he entered the Estates-General on 20 May 1789 as a representative for the Third Estate. On 15 July 1789, after the storming of the Bastille, he became the Mayor of Paris as the Marquis de Lafayette became commander of the newly-formed French National Guard, and Camille Desmoulins and Jean-Paul Marat attacked him for being too conservative. In 1791, he declared martial law as demonstrators marched down the Champ de Mars with a petition to remove King Louis XVI of France, leading to the Champ de Mars massacre. On 12 November 1791, he resigned from his position after becoming unpopular, and Jerome Petion became the new mayor. On 12 November 1793, he was sent to the guillotine at the Champ de Mars, a symbolic gesture, and a person asked him if he was trembling; Bailly responded by saying that it was only the cold. He was then beheaded in front of a large crowd of people, avenging the victims of the massacre.